XWidgetSoft Forum

This request is to allow the default image to display any type of image and not just a static PNG.

This would include an animated GIF, APNG, .ANI or other image format.

This would give the widget the capability of displaying an animated hourglass image or other animation whilst the widget is loading.

At the moment I am using default.png to display a static hourglass image,



Other of my widgets can handle an animated GIF or I run a function that animates a series of PNG images whilst the widgets initialises. However at an Xwidget startup the image I am restricted to is a static PNG which is inadequate for my needs.

You mean "animated previews"..? In theory will be cool, but I'm afraid that pratically it will increase the ram/cpu of the XWidget engine a LOT. And XWidget is great among other similar programs because of the lower usage.

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No of course not! At the moment you could append a PNG the size of a house...

The request is just simply to allow any other supported image type, not just PNG.

IF you wish to include an animated GIF then you should be able to - but it should also support a JPG or other image type. My particular need is for a .ANI file is very small indeed. No-one is being forced to bundle large GIFs.

I think that Tony added support only for pngs simply because of the transparency. I don't know if is only for visual reasons when you open the dock, or just because the 95+ percent of the widgets are made with png images!

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Animated PNG would be sufficient.

The default image is displayed on the widget startup. As this is a static image and there can be a delay while the image initialises (especially if a number of widgets are started simultaneously) then it would be useful to have an image of a rotating hourglass or similar. My widgets are designed to be quite large so that they can have plenty of detail and massive zoom if required by the user. They resize automatically to the user's last set size. For that moment or two before the widget is ready to run the default image would be a useful place to display a rotating hourglass - or other animation of the user's choice.

At the moment I display a static hourglass and that does not really do the job. If the widget engine was capable of displaying an animated gif or png then the rotating hourglass would be easily achieved.

Adding extra animations surely will not increase the loading time of the widgets and thisbis not good. To not have the image that is showing during loading and avoid this 'freeze' image for your widgets you can simple create an empty default image. Uncheck ALL the components of your widgets and then click to create the default image.

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No, it should have negligible impact. The loading times of multiple widgets is quite long anyway so it will make no difference. In any case as you stated there is a choice to create an empty image for those that want it (it does not help at all in loading times), the point is this is a FEATURE REQUEST to the developer that provides a choice of image types at little cost. At the moment there is a significant delay at widget loading times and a simple hourglass would be easy to achieve. Please note this feature request is aimed at the Developer in the absence of a proper system for logging bugs and feature requests.

Question: Why you always act like this? Not all can have the same opinion with you or what you say is always right and the others have wrong..You're a prof designer and surely you know more than me for technical part, but after 4 years around here and with more than 2000 widgets I have learn something, no? The loading time depends a lot on the script code, if there is any and most of all the length of it.. Your widgets use complicate and very long scripts so it's logical some delay.. And the mode of this automatic resize not helps. I agree that the engine needs some optimization and the hourglass request is good but it is more for the esthetic part I think. I don't know if Tony with the v2.0 will optimize this part too, but for now you can create these empty default images.

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It isn't an opinion - I raise these as feature requests for the developer in the absence of a bug/feature request system. I'm not interested in obtaining information from others, if I was I would raise my post as a request for help. Then I would say thankyou when help was given. I'm not looking for help here I am looking to raise a feature request to the developer alone. That will be my response on all Feature Requests.

You may not have used a bug reporting/feature request system before so you are still responding as if these are forum posts where discussion is the norm.

This feature request is simply for support of additional image types for the developer. I want to raise it then forget it until the developer responds. You may want to do the same for your requests.

I won't respond on this thread anymore as it is a feature request and I don't want to debase it into a chat, feel free to chat with me on other channels/threads.

The topics exist to discuss, help, finding solutions, agree or disagree. As Moderator I'm telling that it's bad have just simple empty dead posts without opinions.
This is the meaning of having FORUM!
And the people have to be ready and accept the different opinions.
Topic locked

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If you want an hourglass in your xwidget you can add some code to a timer:

busy.visible = true; // the hourglass image
busyBlur.visible = true; // the hourglass shadow
busyCounter = busyCounter + 1 ;
if (busyCounter >= 7) {busyCounter = 1};
busy.src = "Resources/busy-F" + busyCounter + "-32x32x24.png";

The hourglass images are attached. It does not help during the delay when Xwidget starts but it might be useful elsewhere.